


It's Not You

by spunkyghost



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Character Death, Grief/Mourning, M/M, or maybe keith is just going crazy who knows, stay tuned kids, this is gonna be sad, weird paranormal stuff is involved
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-16
Updated: 2017-03-17
Packaged: 2018-10-06 09:49:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10331930
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spunkyghost/pseuds/spunkyghost
Summary: "It wasn't supposed to be like this. It was supposed to be just any like any other mission. Why? Why was this one different?"Keith growled to himself. He punched the wall repeatedly out of frustration, out of anger. "I should've done something! I was there for fucks sake! Now we have this new person and...and...How exactly do I get over this? I don't know how to to accept them."He let out a shakey exhale. "It's not you."





	

“Princess Allura, I seem to be getting distress calls from the Avanri star system! It’s coming from the planet Chamelios.” Coran reported, cycling through the glowing message. The Altean princess eyed the man uneasily as she walked over to him, peering over his shoulder to study the screen.

 

“What seems to be the problem?”

 

The male Altean leaned in closer to the projection casted from his control panels and read the claims aloud, or at least to the best of his abilities. Both the messages and its translation were illegible - corrupted for unknown reasons.

 

_H̸̨E̸̵͞L̕͝/̕͠/̨͜͢P̷͏-̡͘-͏͝ ̛TE͡͝L̨E̡P̷O͜/̵̸͝R͏͟T͠--͜B̷͞R̷̵͜O͢͞/KE̴̵N-̷-͠N̡̕O̢T ͘͞S̸̴̷A̶͜/̴F҉E̷/҉/͞-͜-̷G̷͘A̶̧͘L̷R̵͏͟A̧͠ ̧͠/̡/͜͡A͢RR̸̕IV̛Ę͞-̛-̷B̧͜E͏͜W̨͢͞/̶ĄR̨͘/̷/̕͡͠E͝͡-͜-͘͠SH̶̨I̴F̧T̸̨͟E͏҉R͜_

 

“Help...Teleport...Broken...not safe...Galra arrive...Beware shifter…” Coran stroked his mustache,  rather puzzled. “It seems that bits and pieces were lost getting here, Princess.”

 

“Is that all it says?” Allura asked, eyebrow raised. She brought her hand to her mouth and gnawed a bit at her nail, a terrible habit of hers she had developed during her times spent on team Voltron. The lack of information worried her greatly, but the princess had already assured herself that this would simply be like any other in-and-out mission.

 

“Unfortunately yes, princess.” Coran sighed. His eyes still scanned for more information but his slumping shoulders indicated there were none.

 

Nodding to herself, already formulating a plan, she turned her back on him and began to walk to the other side of the room to her post. “I suppose this day off we had planned for today shall have to be postponed once again. They would be disappointed for sure, however this dilemma seems rather urgent, especially if the Galra are involved.” She muttered out loud to no one particular. Her advisor gave her a sympathetic smile, furrowed eyebrows showing his concern yet still managing a dismissive wave of a hand.

 

“Oh princess, I’m confident that they’ll understand!” He then followed in her steps and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. “Now let’s wake them up! We’ve probably got another exhaust inducing day ahead of us.”

 

\---

 

Keith trudged slowly to the bridge along with the other paladins who were also suddenly woken from their slumber by the princess’s wake up call.

 

Sleepily, they all arrived with mouthfuls of yawns and grumpy expressions - all except for Shiro who looked somewhat tired but ready to serve nonetheless. He was the only one who seemed to be the most relatively rested out of them, but he knew this man like the back of his hand. Shiro was one of those morning people who always enjoyed waking up early at the break of dawn. As of lately due to the relentless missions they’ve been embarking on, his morning hours became later and later but he still woke up considerably earlier than the rest of his team.

 

 _How the hell does he do it?_ Keith grumbled to himself and groggily crossed his arms in annoyance.

 

Lance was the first one to say something which earned a eye roll from the red paladin. He already knew what he was gonna say as he usually complained whenever someone woke up him before his usual hour.

 

“Princess what’s wrong? Did you plan some sort of weird early bird activity for our day off? While I’d normally practically do anything for you, a man needs his beauty sleep. I can’t just rely on facial masks alone to look this fine.” The cuban yawned loudly and stretched his arms above his head causing his shirt to lift up a little and expose his sun kissed stomach. Keith caught himself staring and quickly averted his eyes.

 

_He had a little bit of freckles on his stomach. How cute._

 

_Wait, what?_

 

Allura looked at them with a conflicted expression before sighing. “Well, it seems as if we have another mission today.” Keith noticed her flinch upon hearing Lance’s sudden cry.

 

“What?! Princess, you said that after yesterday’s mission we’d have an off day! My glutes are seriously killing me!” He whined. Hunk came over and gave the blue paladin a pat on the back.

 

The brunette stepped up next and placed a hand on her hip, “yeah I’m not sure how I feel about this either.” She chimed in. “We’ve been overworking our butts off lately and I’m not sure if it’s good to put our bodies under continuous stress.” Pidge continued, pushing up her glasses.

 

“I suggest we all just eat breakfast first? Maybe?” Hunk piped up from the back by Lance, causing the rest of them to look at him with tired expressions. He chuckled awkwardly and rubbed the back of his head, pink lightly dusting his cheeks. “Can’t really fight on an empty stomach, y’know?”

 

“I’m afraid we must,” Coran called from his post. “I just received more distressed messages from our source. I think they need assistance immediately.”

 

Keith stared at the floor. While he did want to rest like the rest of them, he knew just leaving those people in need wouldn’t be right. He was rather irritated though that the call had to be the day after another one of their gruesome battles. “We should help them. Playing hooky isn’t possible for team Voltron.”

 

“Keith’s right,” Shiro started. “As the defenders of the universe it is our job to help those in need. No matter how big or how small the mission is, it is our job to follow through. What kind of paladins would that make us if we didn’t.”

 

The rest of the paladins slumped their shoulders in defeat and reluctantly began to hurry their way along to the hangar with Keith following slowly behind, leaving Shiro alone with the Alteans to discuss the mission Keith assumed.

 

From the hallways, Lance’s voice echoed through, “WE BETTER HAVE A DAY OFF AFTER THIS FOR SURE, THOUGH!”

 

The raven couldn’t help but roll his eyes again but with a slight smile this time.

 

\---

 

“Care to run the plan by us?” Pidge asked. They had quickly briefed the situation to the rest of the paladins but not exactly what they needed to execute.

 

Shiro stepped up, all dressed and ready in his armor. He took his helmet and clutched it at his side. “From what Coran and the Princess had gathered, all we know currently is that the Galra are currently trying to invade Chamelios. The other messages they got were like the ones, incredibly vague. But, we think that the Galra might be after the portal.”

 

The red paladin nodded along. Shiro had earlier explained that Chamelios is a planet known for its inhabitants that possessed the power to shift their forms as they pleased. Despite living in densely packed, lush jungles, the Chameleans are incredibly advanced in technology - much like the Olkari with the exception of the lack of their material manipulation.

 

Allura told them the aliens had a large portal which was able to transport anyone or anything to anywhere in the universe. She had seen it before she was put in hyper sleep. It was during a diplomatic mission with her father when the princess had encountered the giant machine, but she didn’t get to witness it activate. The Chameleans explained to them that it required too much energy and they wished to use it only in dire situations.

 

“-with their portal broken, none of them are able to escape,” Shiro continued. “The Galra captured the leading engineers and scientists so we’re putting Pidge and Hunk in charge of seeing what’s wrong with it and, if you two are able to, fix it.”

 

Both nodded firmly, Hunk more on the uneasy side.

 

The black paladin turned to Lance and Keith next. “You two, you’re with me. Our job is to fend off the Galra, rescue those captured, and herd them all to the portal safely. Luckily, or maybe unluckily, for us the portal is located inside a massive cave-like structure. If we manage to get everyone in there safely and somehow block the entrance, that should buy us enough time to get them in the portal safely. Any questions?”

 

Lance raised his hand. “Yes, Lance?”

 

“Kinda goin’ back to what Hunk’s saying on the breakfast thin-”

 

“Alright Paladins, let’s get to our Lions!” Shiro dismissed immediately.

 

Keith stayed a little behind the others and watched as the rest of them disappear into their Lions. He felt uneasy. He felt like something just wasn’t right about this mission despite how the others had made it seem. There was a particular part of the message Coran and Allura had shown them that stuck clear in his mind.

 

_B̧͜E͏͜W̨͢͞/̶ĄR̨͘/̷/̕͡͠E͝͡-͜-͘͠SH̶̨I̴F̧T̸̨͟E͏҉R͜_

 

Why beware a shifter? Was there a part in between there that was missing? Maybe the message meant to say “beware Galra” or something like that. No, no that can’t be right. They probably are fully aware of the fact that they should beware them. They’re not _that_ stupid. Well, maybe Lance is-

 

“Keith hurry up!” Shiro called to him.

 

His reasoning with himself was cut short and he was forced to make his way to his own Lion. Instead of his head being filled with the mission at hand, his mind was preoccupied with the uneasiness that continued to plague him.

 

\---

 

The mission was going like any other mission. Maybe Keith was just being paranoid. Maybe he was just overthinking it.

 

They’d already finished rescuing the captured aliens and they were able to blockade the entrance with a boulder that Hunk and his Lion managed to break off from the mountain just right above the cave. Inside, with the help of the yellow paladin and the guidance of the engineering aliens, they managed to fix the portal. All that was left was to mend the panels where the coordinates were put in, and the Chameleans were free from Zarkon’s ever growing empire.

 

Sounds of gunfire and the pounding of rocks against the boulder shook the cave. Both Hunk and Shiro were outside defending while Lance, Pidge, and him had remained inside. He gripped his hand around his bayard tighter, feeling his blood boil from hearing the fight going on without him. Keith hated standing idly outside Red in the cave doing nothing but standing watch.

 

The two of them, meaning him and Lance, were ordered to keep an eye out just in case a Galran soldier managed to slip inside. He wasn’t even allowed to be in his lion because of the amount of people in the cave. The black paladin told them it’d be safer for them to fight hand-on-hand to avoid directly injuring anyone. Despite his protests, Shiro pressed on to tell him to do his duty. While he is a skilled fighter, Shiro had remarked that he’d rather have his abilities used to protect the people inside because his impulsive nature might stir up trouble if he were fighting outside the cave. They were almost done with the mission anyway, so Keith could see why Shiro didn’t want anything bad to happen now. Still, he was pretty upset being stuck in here with nothing to do.

 

He grumbled to himself as he continued to standby. The raven promised that if he were to hear even a single cry for help out of one of them, he was blasting out there in an instant. But, based on what he could hear from his helmet, he probably wasn’t going to get to anytime soon.

 

Keith scanned the room but stopped when his eyes fell on Lance. His heart couldn’t help but beat at the sight. Lance was kneeling down to a small Chameleon girl in front of him. She appeared to be wailing and wailing from the noises outside. Her parents held her shoulders in a comforting manner but to no avail, she continued to cry. Lance took off his helmet and said something to her, something Keith couldn’t catch since he was so far away. The next thing he knew, the girl was smiling - laughing even.

 

The blue paladin placed his helmet on her head which she held with joy. She turned to her parents who gave a chuckle in return. The mother mouthed a “thank you” to which Lance only responded with a sheepish grin.

 

_Crap he’s cute._

 

_…_

 

_Focus Keith! FOCUS!_

 

He made a frustrated grunt, causing the aliens around him to jump. What’s been going on with him lately?

 

“It’s all fixed!” Pidge called.

 

The aliens cheered with joy, excited to get away safely. From the corner of his eye, he spotted Lance making his way to the portal. He stood beside it and watched as it activated. Luminous blues and greens shined brightly in swirls inside the frame, lighting up the dim cave.

 

From his helmet, he could hear both Shiro and Hunk hurrah. The mission was finally coming to an end.

 

It was then when Keith felt a sudden shiver down his spine along with the wave of uneasiness he felt before the mission. A Chamelean child, who seemed no older than the young girl that Lance comforted, walked past him. He looked at Keith with his bright yellow eyes. They were empty.

 

The red paladin watched as the child disappeared into the crowd and then up beside the controls near Pidge. She greeted him with a smile, but it soon turned into fear as the child became a child no more, but instead a fully grown Chamelean man with scars and disgustingly patterned scales that decorated his body.

 

“Beware...the Shifter.” Keith could only breath out.

 

He saw the man brandishing a dagger pulled from underneath his cloak. He raised it and dragged it deep into the control panels, causing the sounds of scraping metal and snapping wires to echo throughout the cave.

 

The light that was emitted from the portal began to flicker on and off. Keith sprinted his way to the portal as quickly as he could but then…

 

The power went off. It forced him to stop in his tracks.

 

Suddenly, there was a blood curtling scream. Lance’s scream. As it rang, the paladin felt his heart beat faster and faster.

 

And with that, the portal was on again, lighting up the cave. However, the blues and greens were replaced with a dangerous red. He saw bolts of electricity surge around the portal’s frame and felt the ground tremble from its instability.

 

Keith turned to Pidge to call for assistance but instead was greeted with the sight of her unconscious on the ground. The panicked shouts from Hunk and Shiro were inaudible, drowned out by the screams of those around him.

 

He looked up in horror as he saw the Shifter holding Lance by his neck in front of the portal for all to see. Keith saw the fear in Lance’s eyes, the helplessness in his futile attempts to get the man to release his grip on his neck.

 

“LONG LIVE ZARKON!” The Chamelean maniacally laughed.

 

The red paladin lunged forward to stop him but was only rewarded with a front-seat view.

 

All he could recall was watching Lance getting thrown into the portal, body disintegrating directly upon impact and turning into nothing but glittering stardust… he remembered the heart wrenching pain he felt…

 

And…

 

A surging, uncontrollable rage that filled his entire being.

  


**Author's Note:**

> I HAVEN'T WRITTEN IN A WHILE
> 
> God it's been forever. I'm so rusty. I don't know how writers do it-- writing is so hard I'd rather stick to drawing but I just had this idea in my head I just NEEDED to write it because I can't get my entire vision across to someone else///
> 
> Which was a bad idea I should've done that instead writing is so hard ajflanakjhdalhfafa
> 
> Hope you like it so far though! Don't know when the next update will be, haha. School is fun.


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